The Simple Touch Reader is a major upgrade from the original Nook, and also significantly improves upon Amazon's Kindle 3 device in five respects: 1) It has a touchscreen, and is buttonless (save for the on/off button on the backside). 2) It has double the battery life. 3) It's 1.5 inches shorter (5 x 6.5 inches). 4) It's one ounce lighter (7.5 ounces). 5) There's less of a page-turning delay.

Both devices have built-in Wi-Fi, 6-inch display screens and are priced at $139.

Amazon's Next Move

The Barnes & Noble team was noticeably proud of the device at the launch event Tuesday, and it deserves to be, given how far the company has come in hardware development over the past year.

But the celebration should be short-lived. Amazon is ripe to launch the next generation of its Kindle device this summer, as it has for the past three consecutive summers. Historically, each Kindle iteration brings about a significant upgrade to storage, speed and battery life; the real question is whether Amazon will continue with its button-laden model, or opt for a touchscreen.

And even if the Kindle doesn’t beat the Simple Touch Reader, Kindle users are unlikely to abandon their current devices in favor of Barnes & Noble’s, especially when that means giving up access to their current library of Kindle-only books.

It's for these reasons that my colleague Christina Warren believes that Barnes & Noble should cease production of E-Ink ereaders and focus instead on the low-end Android market. The bookseller arguably has a greater edge in that niche, especially given that the Nook Color is the bestselling Android tablet in the U.S. to date, according to B&N CEO William Lynch.

What do you think? Should Barnes & Noble give up production of low-end ereaders in favor of its Nook Color line of Android devices? And Kindle owners, are you thinking about making the switch to Nook, or are you waiting to see what the Kindle 4 looks like?

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